tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3388652528051620982.post5149729498984267808..comments2024-03-26T01:34:40.136+01:00Comments on Cycling Solution: No bloodbath afterallGreg Spencerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11437710184036204639noreply@blogger.comBlogger4125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3388652528051620982.post-44201336073356727642008-09-25T13:04:00.000+02:002008-09-25T13:04:00.000+02:00Hi Faye,I think the PR by Bp's Critical Mass organ...Hi Faye,<BR/><BR/>I think the PR by Bp's Critical Mass organisers is very civil towards motorists. For instance, they acknowledge that bikers and drivers aren't mutually exclusive groups. A lot of people, including many who participate in these protest rides, use both modes of transport. <BR/><BR/>I support an approach of civility and mutual respect, however I also believe the city does too much to accommodate motorists. Why is it that downtown flat owners are entitled to virtually free-of-charge street parking? As a flat owner, but non-car owner, shouldn't I get something comparable -- like my own private patch of grass in a local public park? Or a few square metres of a neighbourhood sidewalk that I could rent out to a kiosk owner?<BR/><BR/>What the city needs to do is charge everyone, including flat owners, a fair market rate for street parking. At the same time, I love your idea of eliminating parking on the korut. There are much better uses for our common spaces than vehicle storage.<BR/><BR/>I would not favour requirements for developers to build underground garages. There's plenty of market incentive to provide underground parking -- as long as the city stops giving away the surface. <BR/><BR/>A recent study on city-mandated parking in New York showed that the long-term effect will be more congestion, not less. Check it out at http://www.transalt.org/newsroom/releases/2541Greg Spencerhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/11437710184036204639noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3388652528051620982.post-86667476888565394132008-09-24T13:53:00.000+02:002008-09-24T13:53:00.000+02:00This might be a really naive suggestion, as I am a...This might be a really naive suggestion, as I am a pedestrian, but: why don't the cyclists join forces with car friendly lobbyists for once instead of demanding that everyone in a car should hang themselves, and lobby district councils to build big parking houses, and make the provision of underground parking space a condition of planning permissions for all those horrid new apartment blocks and office blocks they are building in historical inner districts? After that they could ban parking on major roads like the Korut, making more space for everyone.Fayehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/04237263889439055493noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3388652528051620982.post-21904729880321173572008-09-24T09:59:00.000+02:002008-09-24T09:59:00.000+02:00Granted -- 10,000 is only a small number by the st...Granted -- 10,000 is only a small number by the standards of Budapest's Critical Mass. As far as the reliability of the estimate goes, Hungary around the Clock also said "around 10,000," quoting Kürti Gábor.Greg Spencerhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/11437710184036204639noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3388652528051620982.post-228983137186872382008-09-23T21:41:00.000+02:002008-09-23T21:41:00.000+02:00Well Greg, I don't know if HIR-TV is the best sour...Well Greg, I don't know if HIR-TV is the best source for bike demonstration estimates, but let's just say that there was a convincing turnout ... and I'm very happy that no serious incidents or accidents happened, aside from what probably happens in Budapest on any day...G.https://www.blogger.com/profile/06528231188926287442noreply@blogger.com